- In January 2009 we witnessed the birthof the first viable digital currency.Called bitcoin, this new form of moneywas born on the Internet.What an incredible and provocative idea,a currency without the need for traditional banksand not beholden to any central authority.In fact, bitcoin is absent of any governanceand oversight, seamlessly traversing the Internetwith little delay and only managed through the consensusof all users of the currency.

Now, powering the seemingly magical new form of money,the mechanism that makes it work is alsoan innovative new idea.It's a novel way to store, validate,authorize and move digital transactions across the Internet.It's called a blockchain and it has the potentialto be a highly disruptive technology,not just in the world of digital currencybut in a vast number of organizational contexts.The potential of the blockchain is so significantthat anyone who wants to understand the futureof the Internet needs to understand it,what it is enabling and may enableand the industries it may disruptboth positively and negatively.

Hi, I'm Jonathan Reichentaland this is my Blockchain Basics course.What makes this course unusualis that while we will cover the mechanicsof how the blockchain worksand the problems it can solvewe will also explore a world of usesthat have yet to be realized.We will discuss a speculative futurewhere traditional ways of doing thingsare challenged and reimagined.I've made the content easy to follow for anyoneso that we can stay focused on the big picture,we'll have some fun exploring current uses of the blockchainand also imagining the possibilities.

Let's get started.

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Released

7/14/2017

We're on the precipice of a radical and disruptive new way of conducting all manner of transactions over the Internet. While still in its infancy, blockchain technology demands attention. In this introductory-level course, learn what blockchain is and what it might mean to you. Jonathan Reichental—named one of the world's top 100 CIOs in 2017—dives into blockchain technology from a conceptual perspective. The course is primarily non-technical by design, intended for those working in business leadership positions, data science, and IT management.

Jonathan begins by describing some of the current challenges with the Internet, including existing risks and security problems such as identity management. Next, he describes how traditional online databases function, so that you have a basis for how the blockchain redesigns this function. He then describes how the blockchain becomes a potential solution for many of the existing limitations of online databases. Since the blockchain has its genesis in Bitcoin—the digital currency—he provides some background on that too. He also discusses how blockchain technology actually offers new capabilities beyond simply solving old problems. To wrap up the course, Jonathan shares steps you can take in your organization to understand the implications of the blockchain.